The city of Savannah, in Georgia, a few years ago, passed an ordinance, by which "any person that teaches a person of color, slave or free, to read or write, or causes such persons to be so taught, is subjected to a fine of thirty dollars for each offence; and every person of color who shall teach reading or writing, is subject to a fine of thirty dollars, or to be imprisoned ten days and whipped thirty-nine lashes."
From these facts it is evident that legislative power prevents a master from giving liberty and instruction to his slave, even when such a course would be willingly pursued by a benevolent individual. The laws allow almost unlimited
power to do mischief; but the power to do good is effectually restrained.
Prop. 13.—There is a monstrous inequality of law and right.
In a civilized country, one would expect that if any disproportion existed in the laws, it would be in favor of the ignorant and defenceless; but the reverse is lamentably the case here. Obedience to the laws is the price freemen pay for the protection of the laws;—but the same legislatures which absolutely sanction the negro's wrongs, and, to say the least, make very inadequate provisions for his safety, claim the right to punish him with inordinate severity.
"In Kentucky, white men are condemned to death for four crimes only; slaves meet a similar punishment for eleven crimes. In South Carolina, white persons suffer death for twenty-seven crimes; slaves incur a similar fate for thirty-six crimes. In Georgia, whites are punished capitally for three crimes only; slaves for at least nine."
Stroud says there are seventy-one crimes in the slave States, for which negroes are punished with death, and for each and every one of these crimes the white man suffers nothing worse than imprisonment in the penitentiary.
"Trial by jury is utterly denied to the slave, even in criminal accusations which may affect his life; in South Carolina, Virginia, and Louisiana, instead of a jury, is substituted a tribunal composed of two justices of the peace and from three to five free-holders, (i. e. slave-holders.) In Virginia, it is composed of five justices merely. What chance has an ignorant slave before a tribunal chosen by his accuser, suddenly convoked, and consisting of but five persons?"
If a slave is found out of the limits of the town in which he lives, or beyond the plantation on which he is usually employed, without a written permission from his master, or the company of some white person, any body may inflict twenty lashes upon him; and if the slave resist such punishment, he may be lawfully killed.
If a slave visit another plantation without leave in writing from his master, the owner of the plantation may give him ten lashes.